$221 million contract goes to Atlanta company for Redstone work

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $221.2 million contract to an Atlanta company to build an office building for 2,649 Missile Defense Agency workers at Redstone Arsenal.

The 839,873-square-foot building will become the largest single building on the north Alabama post, according to a press release.

Red Archer Western Contractors, Ltd., headquartered in Atlanta, was awarded the contract for design and construction of the building, which is the third and largest phase of the Von Braun Complex on Redstone Arsenal.

Among the workers in the building are 2,248 Missile Defense Agency jobs that were realigned from the Washington D.C. area as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations in 2005, as well as 240 positions from Huntsville and 161 Army Space and Missile Defense Agency positions from the Washington, D.C. area.

The building will include approximately 750,000 square feet of administrative space, an 800-seat auditorium, a cafeteria, a fitness center and a central mechanical plant, according to the press release.

The facility will be constructed in two phases.

Phase I will be completed in the spring of 2010, allowing the move-in of the first 800 to 1,000 workers that summer. Phase II will be completed in early 2011 with move-in of remaining workers in the summer.

When the building is completed, the entire Von Braun Complex, including buildings that were completed in 2004 and 2007, will house approximately 4,500 personnel.